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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Peach Bowl Champs: Ole Miss Torches Nation's Top Defense
12/31/2023 | Football
ATLANTA – The 2023 Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl pitted the nation's No. 1 defense, brought by No. 10 Penn State, and one of its best offenses, and in the end, No. 11 Ole Miss and its offense won out in a 38-25 victory for a school record 11th win.
Penn State entered the game allowing an FBS best 223.2 total yards per game. The Nittany Lions led the nation in total defense, turnover margin, first downs allowed, rushing defense, sacks and tackles for loss. Lane Kiffin and Ole Miss responded to the challenge by posting the most points (38), passing yards (394) and total yards (540) Penn State has allowed this season.
"It's one thing to win some games—if you win a game in the last second, a field goal goes in or it doesn't—that's one thing, but to play a game and in a lot of the phases of the game, these guys played extremely well. Kind of dominated certain phases of the game against—I know they were a little short with opt-outs, but the No. 1 defense in the country," Kiffin said.
Penn State hadn't allowed a team to hit the 300-yard mark through the air this season, and Ole Miss finished just shy of 400 yards at 394. It was also the only time this season a team threw more than 40 times against the Nittany Lions without an interception. Jaxson Dart's three touchdown passes also tied a season-high for the PSU secondary.
Before the Peach Bowl, Penn State had allowed just two 100-yard receivers: 104 yards from Indiana's Dequece Carter and 162 yards by Ohio State's Marvin Harrison Jr. In the Peach Bowl, Penn State allowed two 100-yard receivers: Caden Preiskorn at 136 and Tre Harris with 134.
On the ground, Ole Miss tied for the second-most yards against the Nittany Lions this season, matching the 146 yards produced in the season opener by West Virginia and falling short of Michigan's 227 yards. Quinshon Judkins joined Michigan's Blake Corum as just the second 100-yard rusher against the Nittany Lions this year.
"Just in studying and game planning, didn't really feel in that conference they had played much tempo. Obviously that's part of what we do, and we were able to -- that only works when you make first downs. So we made some plays, and we were able to get into some tempo situations where they weren't aligned, and took advantage of that."
The Nittany Lions were allowing 12.5 first downs per game, leading the nation, and Ole Miss moved the chains 30 times, including a perfect 3-for-3 mark on fourth down.
"Really pleased with our players to play a really clean, kind of penalty free," Kiffin said. "Did a good job in situations, the 3 for 3 on fourth downs, those are very critical plays in the game."
No team had scored more than 24 points against Penn State this season. Ole Miss was almost there at halftime, leading 20-17 at the break.
Despite the lead, the Rebels had to overcome another overwhelming strength of the Nittany Lions: the third quarter. PSU had outscored its opponents 115-3 in the third quarter this season, and the Nittany Lions began the second half with the ball. Ole Miss responded defensively by posting three three-and-outs to start the second half, winning the quarter 11-0 to all but put the game away.
"That was really cool to come out in the second half like that, a game that we had the lead and really had a great, kind of dominant third quarter in a lot of phases of the game," Kiffin said. "I don't have it in front of me, but I saw the drive chart up on the big screen before the end of the game there, the last couple series. There were a lot of touchdowns and scorers over here on our side in that third quarter and the first half of the fourth quarter and a lot of punts and then a blocked field goal on their side."
2024 Season Tickets
Don't miss one of college football's top attractions next season. Ole Miss football 2024 season tickets are on sale and available for renewal now at OleMissTix.com.
Penn State entered the game allowing an FBS best 223.2 total yards per game. The Nittany Lions led the nation in total defense, turnover margin, first downs allowed, rushing defense, sacks and tackles for loss. Lane Kiffin and Ole Miss responded to the challenge by posting the most points (38), passing yards (394) and total yards (540) Penn State has allowed this season.
"It's one thing to win some games—if you win a game in the last second, a field goal goes in or it doesn't—that's one thing, but to play a game and in a lot of the phases of the game, these guys played extremely well. Kind of dominated certain phases of the game against—I know they were a little short with opt-outs, but the No. 1 defense in the country," Kiffin said.
The TD, then the celly by @Lane_Kiffin 😤#HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/yZFsUdL7TU
— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) December 31, 2023
Penn State hadn't allowed a team to hit the 300-yard mark through the air this season, and Ole Miss finished just shy of 400 yards at 394. It was also the only time this season a team threw more than 40 times against the Nittany Lions without an interception. Jaxson Dart's three touchdown passes also tied a season-high for the PSU secondary.
Before the Peach Bowl, Penn State had allowed just two 100-yard receivers: 104 yards from Indiana's Dequece Carter and 162 yards by Ohio State's Marvin Harrison Jr. In the Peach Bowl, Penn State allowed two 100-yard receivers: Caden Preiskorn at 136 and Tre Harris with 134.
On the ground, Ole Miss tied for the second-most yards against the Nittany Lions this season, matching the 146 yards produced in the season opener by West Virginia and falling short of Michigan's 227 yards. Quinshon Judkins joined Michigan's Blake Corum as just the second 100-yard rusher against the Nittany Lions this year.
The other two teams—WVU and UM—who broke 100 yards on the ground against Penn State failed to break 200 yards passing. The No. 1 Wolverines only had 60 yards through the air in their matchup. In terms of total offense, Ohio State had the most against Penn State before the Nittany Lions came to Atlanta with 365. Ole Miss bested that by almost 200, notching 540 total yards in the win.1,158 Rushing Yards this season 🏆@qaj4_ | #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/4b2KGoxXPy
— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) December 30, 2023
"Just in studying and game planning, didn't really feel in that conference they had played much tempo. Obviously that's part of what we do, and we were able to -- that only works when you make first downs. So we made some plays, and we were able to get into some tempo situations where they weren't aligned, and took advantage of that."
The Nittany Lions were allowing 12.5 first downs per game, leading the nation, and Ole Miss moved the chains 30 times, including a perfect 3-for-3 mark on fourth down.
"Really pleased with our players to play a really clean, kind of penalty free," Kiffin said. "Did a good job in situations, the 3 for 3 on fourth downs, those are very critical plays in the game."
No team had scored more than 24 points against Penn State this season. Ole Miss was almost there at halftime, leading 20-17 at the break.
Despite the lead, the Rebels had to overcome another overwhelming strength of the Nittany Lions: the third quarter. PSU had outscored its opponents 115-3 in the third quarter this season, and the Nittany Lions began the second half with the ball. Ole Miss responded defensively by posting three three-and-outs to start the second half, winning the quarter 11-0 to all but put the game away.
"That was really cool to come out in the second half like that, a game that we had the lead and really had a great, kind of dominant third quarter in a lot of phases of the game," Kiffin said. "I don't have it in front of me, but I saw the drive chart up on the big screen before the end of the game there, the last couple series. There were a lot of touchdowns and scorers over here on our side in that third quarter and the first half of the fourth quarter and a lot of punts and then a blocked field goal on their side."
2024 Season Tickets
Don't miss one of college football's top attractions next season. Ole Miss football 2024 season tickets are on sale and available for renewal now at OleMissTix.com.
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